Get to Know Your YSS Webpage - Part 5

This is one in a series of Monday posts to familiarize you with the Youth Services Section's (YSS) webpage. Hosted as part of the Wisconsin Library Association website, the webpage has a host of helpful resources free to anyone (although if you aren't a member we hope you'll join to help us continue our work!). And now we present....

Bravo - Children's Book Award Committee/Burr Worzalla Award
The Children's Book Award Committee is part of YSS. The YSS chair annually appoints members to the committee (members serve alternating 2 year terms). They award the prestigious Burr Worzalla Award annually - announced in summer and presented at the WLA fall conference. They also select up to ten outstanding books for the year published by Wisconsin authors.

To find out all about the committee and their work, click here.

To explore more about the awards, you can find information about Elizabeth Burr, for whom the award is named; the annual list of notable authors  as well as the annual list of Outstanding Book Awards.

Click these links to find more YSS resource blog posts (as they are published weekly)
Part 1 - Free CE- Archived YSS Webinars
Part 2 - Teen Power - 52 Weeks of YA Programming
Part 3 - In a Minute! YSS Board Meeting Notes
Part 4 - Coding Power - 12 Months of Coding Resources
Part 6 - Follow the Leaders - The YSS Board
Part 7 - Knock-Knock - The YSS Homepage Address

And don't forget to visit the main WLA website for news and updates of conferences and other opportunities.

2018 Burr/Worzalla Children's Award Winners and Honors

Children’s book Roll, written by Darcy Miller and published by HarperCollins, has won the coveted Burr/Worzalla Award for 2018.  She will present at the WLA conference in La Crosse on Thursday October 25 at 1:45 p.m.  Roll, is a hilariously funny and poignant coming-of-age story about Lauren, or rather “Ren,” who learns about friendship, family, and Birmingham Roller Pigeons after he moves to the country.  Roll is an impressive debut from Miller, who lives with her family in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin.  The Children’s Book Award Committee of the Wisconsin Library Association’s Youth Services Section annually awards the Burr/Worzalla to the most distinguished work in literature for children written and/or illustrated by a Wisconsin book creator.

This year’s Wisconsin Notable Children’s Author, Laurence Yep, was chosen for his amazing body of work in children’s literature. A former Marquette University student, and respected author of children’s literature, Yep was the 2005 recipient of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for his career contribution to children’s literature.  Yep’s many notable works include two Newbery honor titles, Dragon Wings and Dragon’s Gate.  The Children’s Book Award Committee is very pleased to bestow yet another award upon this master storyteller.

Ten noteworthy titles were selected for Outstanding Achievement in Children’s Literature, written and/or illustrated by Wisconsin book creators:

The March Against Fear: The Last Great Walk of the Civil Rights Movement and the Emergence of Black Power by Ann Bausum

Big and Little Questions (according to Wren Jo Byrd) by Julie Bowe

Claymates written by Dev Petty, illustrated by Lauren Eldrige

Slider by Pete Hautman

Egg by Kevin Henkes

Noah Webster’s Fighting Words by Tracy Nelson Maurer

Someday Birds by Sally Pla

Liberty: The Spy Who (kind of) Liked Me by Andrea Portes

Pomegranate Witch written by Denise Doyen, illustrated by Eliza Wheeler

Where Are You? By Sarah Williamson

The 2018 Children’s Book Award Committee members consist of Judy Jones, Chair, U.S.S. Liberty Memorial Public Library (Grafton), Abby Bussen, Chair Elect, Muskego Public Library, Amanda Brandt, Hudson Area Library, Jenni Frencham, Hilarie Kane, Prairie Hill Wardorf School, Katherine Schoofs, Aram Public Library (Delavan) and Aimee Schreiber, Sparta Free Library.  For more information about the Children’s Book Awards Committee, visit http://wla.wisconsinlibraries.org/yss/childrens-books-award-comm.

2008 Notable Wisconsin Children's Author!

This past spring, the YSS Children’s Book Award Committee chose Marybeth Lorbiecki as the 2008 Notable Wisconsin Children’s Author. She is being honored for her body of work, as the author of more than twenty titles for children. Several of her books bring history alive for younger readers, often tackling difficult subjects such as racism, war, the environment and guns. A few of her numerous prior awards include Children’s Choice List, Parents Choice Award, New York Public Library Pick of the Lists, and Notable Book Lists by the American Library Association. For more information about MaryBeth Lorbiecki’s books, visit the YSS Notable Authors/Illustrators page at http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/yss/BookAward/notablehome.htm

The members of the 2008 Children’s Book Award Committee, chaired by Leah Langby of the Indianhead Federated Library System in Eau Claire, include Sonja Nelson Ackerman, Wausau School District; Geri Ceci Cupery, E.D. Locke Public Library (McFarland); Kate FitzGerald-Fleck, Waukesha Public Library; Pat Freitag, Graham Public Library (Union Grove); Linda Jerome, LaCrosse Public Library and Susan Pesheck, River Falls Public Library. For more information about the work of the CBA Committee, and awards criteria, visit http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/yss/bookawardmain.htm

Take note: if you’re attending the WLA Fall Conference next month, free Burr/Worzalla Award stickers will be available, compliments of YSS!